You may be able to tell because I wrote about it a few weeks ago, and I linked a piece from them in my last dispatch, but I love Dirt. Recently, while digging through the archives I came across an essay by Alex Aciman (son of that Aciman) on having a million browser tabs open. This is a real issue for me — last time we were watching TV together, RRAFTM (roommate, reader, and friend to me) Ashley clowned me for my excess of tabs, for opening up a new YouTube tab when I already had one open. As an abuser of tabs, I liked what Aciman wrote about his own relationship to his (alleged) 97 tabs:
“These tabs are a chronicle of all the various places my mind has drifted to over the last few months—all the threads that have tugged at my attention…After almost ten years of this, I’ve realized that my eclectic mix of tabs is not actually a laundry list of interesting things I intend to look into in earnest; instead they represent the building blocks of the person I think I ought to be.”
Inspired by Mr. Aciman Jr’s words, I’ve had the terrible/brilliant idea to share all my open tabs (from both my phone and desktop) with you. Some editing has happened — things like my email or shopping links (unless they’re unbearably good) will stay in the vault. But everything else you can find below. (Embarrassingly for me but lucky for you, I opened my laptop to find that half of the tabs I thought I had open were no longer open so this list is much shorter than I anticipated.)
I’ve starred things that I’ve actually read and left brief comments.
An Interview with Parul Sehgal, The Oxonian Review* — If you follow me on Instagram, you already know about this. Sehgal always gives the most clear and poetic advice on criticism, and when I was a reviews editor in university, I told my entire team to read and listen to her
Product page for “Amor Cringe,” a new novel by K Allado-McDowell — RAFTM Joel sent to me
Google results for Bruno Latour
“Layers of Identity,” Real Life
“The Internet as Religion,” David Phelps* — “The fundamental polytheism of the internet might, in that sense, reflect our own promiscuous desires for the divine.” His final conclusion is so-so (we can shape the internet in our image) but the paths he takes will apply to anyone who knows the transcendent and escapist experience of clicking and creating and following with eagerness (just about all of us).
“The Shit Kickers of Madison Avenue,” The New Yorker* — Perfection for fans of Gossip Girl (the books more than the show)
“Fiction Detective: On Literary Citation and Search Engine Sleuthing,” The Drift
Google results for Emmanuel Levinas
“Pandemic Foreplay,” Gurls Talk
Lyrics to Fleetwood Mac’s “Storms” meant to be copied in my journal (I still haven’t)
“Kerry James Marshall,” Art in America
“Meaning and Affordance: Between Alexander and Gibson,” The Side View
“Get Thee to a Nunnery,” The Baffler
“Revolutionary Hope: A Conversation Between James Baldwin and Audre Lorde,” The Culture
“A Litany for Survival: The Life and Work of Audre Lorde,” BOMB magazine
“Naked Lie,” Slate* — Maybe I am guilty of the same sort of “it’s not porn, it’s art” prudishness that this writer assigns to execs of sexy shows like Normal People and Bridgerton but there was something about this piece that sort of made me shrug?
“Since Living Alone,” The Hairpin* — “And living alone, I soon caught on, is a form of self-portraiture, of retracing the same lines over and over — of becoming.” I would this often during my senior year of high school, alone and silent on the bus, dreaming of moving to Montreal and living alone (the patter of my own feet, opening the fridge to no surprises). Six years later, I have not ever lived in Montreal and have not lived alone but this essay is still beautiful.
“Gabriel García Márquez, The Art of Fiction No. 69,” The Paris Review
“The 8 Girls Moments We Can’t Stop Thinking About, One Decade Later,” Vogue* — Once again shocked that Vogue didn’t reach out to me about contributing to this (I’ll be calling Anna directly) but also no one mentioned Marnie singing Kanye’s “Stronger” to Charlie in season?? It’s not just one of the best moments in the show but in ALL OF TELEVISION
Google results for “jawn meaning”
If you read any of these (especially the ones I haven’t) please let me know if they’re worth reading.